W. Shakespeare
威廉·莎士比亚
dramatist, man of theatre, and poet
He was
born on
23 April
1564 and
died on
23 April
1616.
Life Story
His birthday is traditionally celebrated on 23, April,
which is the date of his death.
Comments by the Contemporaries
 1.Edmond Spenser, Robert Greene
 The rise and success of “an upstart
crow”(用美丽的羽毛装饰起来的狂妄自大的乌鸦)
 2. Francis Meres: one of the leading
figures of the time and “the most
excellent” in both comedy and
tragedy
Comments by the Contemporaries


A handsome, well-shaped man,
very good company（同伴，朋友）,
and of a very ready（敏捷的） and
pleasant smooth（平和的） wit
（大智）
The “gentle（文雅的）
Shakespeare”, “gentle Will”
Ben Jonson’s Comments
 blot out: 抹掉; malevolent: 恶意的;
posterity:子孙,后代; fault:出错;
p.55—56
 justify:证明; candour:坦率;
 idolatry:崇拜偶像; fantasy:幻想;
 notions概念,想法; flow with: 富有;
 facility:熟练,技巧;
 such like:一类; redeem: 拯救,解救
 homage:敬意; owe to:归功于
A Chronological List of
Shakespeare’s Plays （the first）
1. The first period of early
apprenticeship:
1) Henry VI, Part II, III, I
《亨利六世上、中、下》
2) Richard III 《里查德三世》
3) The Comedy of Errors
《错误的喜剧》 《错中错》
4) Titus Andronicus 《泰特斯·安庄尼克斯》
A Chronological List of
Shakespeare’s Plays (the first)
5) The Taming of the Shrew 《驯悍妇》
6) The Two Gentlemen of Verona
《维洛那二绅士》
7) Love’s Labor’s Lost
《爱的徒劳》 《空爱一场》
8) Romeo and Juliet 《罗密欧与朱丽叶》
A Chronological List of
Shakespeare’s Plays (the 2nd)
2. the second period of rapid growth
and maturity:
1) Richard II 《里查德二世》
2) A Midsummer Night’s Dream
《仲夏夜之梦》
3) King John 《约翰王》
4) The Merchant of Venice
《威尼斯
商人》
A Chronological List of
Shakespeare’s Plays (the 2nd)
5) Henry IV, Part I; Henry IV, Part II《亨利
四世》
6) Much Ado about Nothing《无事自扰》
《无事生非》
7) Henry V《亨利五世》
8) The Merry Wives of Windsor 《温莎的
风流女人》
A Chronological List of
Shakespeare’s Plays (the 2nd)





9) Julius Caesar
《凯撒大帝》
10) As You Like It
《如愿》 《皆大欢喜》
11) Twelfth Night 《第十二夜》
 3. the third period of Gloom and
Sadness:
 1) Hamlet《哈姆雷特》
 2) Troilus and Cressida
 《特洛埃勒斯与克莱西达》
 3) All’s Well That Ends Well
 《终成眷属》
 4) Measure for Measure
《恶有恶报》 《一报还一报》
 5) Othello 《奥塞罗》
A Chronological List of
Shakespeare’s Plays (the third)
 6) King Lear《李尔王》
 7) Macbeth《麦克白》《麦克佩斯》
 8) Antony and Cleopatra
《安
东尼与克莉奥佩特拉 》
 9) Coriolanus 《科利奥兰纳斯 》
 10) Timon of Athens
《雅典的泰蒙》
A Chronological List of
Shakespeare’s Plays (the 4th)
 4. the fourth period of calm after
storm:
 1) Pericles《波里克利斯》
 2) Cymbeline《辛柏林》
 3) The Winter’s Tales《冬天的故事》
 4) The Tempest《暴风雨》
 5) Henry VIII《亨利八世》
Four periods of Shakespeare’s
Dramatic Composition
The first period of early apprenticeship :
Experiments in a number of dramatic form:
1. The historical play
2. Varieties of comedy
3. The revenge tragedy 4. The romantic tragedy
5. Narrative poems
1. Venus and Adonis
《维纳斯和阿道尼斯》
2. The Rape of Lucrece
《露克丽丝受辱记》
The First Period of Apprenticeship
(1590—1594)
Shakespeare’s first theatrical success:
history of the War of the Roses
Henry VI,
in three acts
first historical
tetralogy (四部曲)
Henry VI, Part I
Henry VI, Part II
Henry VI, Part III
Richard III
recent
history
of England
Four Comedies in the First Period
comic confusions in the same city, in one day,
twin brothers with their twin servants
The Comedy of Errors
Valentine, Proteus
Silvia,
Julia
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Taming of the Shrew
Love’s Lover’s Lost
Katharine,
Petruchio 彼得鲁乔
King of Navarre and his three lords
Princess of France and three of her attendant ladies
Earliest successful tragedy:
Romeo and Juliet
Two families in Verona: bitter enmity 仇恨
the Capulets and the Montagues
a feast—Romeo—love—secret marriage
—kill—banishment(流放)
—marry Paris, a young nobleman—sleeping potion
—profound sleep—poison, die—stab with dagger
Though a tragedy, there is no
tinge (hint) of pessimism in the play.
It is a song of youth and true love.
Writing Features of the First Period



1. concerned with the affairs of
youth and full of romantic sentiment
2. early history plays, handle
political themes and give historical
lessons
3. extraordinary facility(熟练) in
expression and a felicity(恰当) in the
choice of phrases and epithets(表示性
质、特征的形容词)
Features of the First Period
 4. not so much on character as on fine
or witty speech and situation at first
 5. mistaken identity, the best source of
fun
 6. historical accuracy, not so strictly
regarded
 7. an increasing insight into character
and mind, a good command of
characterization in Romeo and Juliet
Features in the First Period
8. poetical dramas: important dialogues
and soliloquies(独白) assume(采取……形式)
the form of poetry
 9. the influence of Marlowe, blank verse
in drama which developed into a happy
vehicle (means) to express all kinds of
thought and emotion freely

The Second Period of Rapid Growth
and Maturity (1594—1600 )
A period of great comedies and
mature historical plays:
1) 6 comedies,
2) 5 historical plays,
3) a Roman tragedy,
4) and some sonnets.
The Second Period of Rapid Growth
and Maturity (1594—1600 )
advance
in every
way
knowledge
wisdom
political insight
dramatic skill
creative power
characterization
versification(作诗)
The Second Period of Rapid Growth
and Maturity (1594—1600 )
In comedies, the general spirit is optimism.
redolent芬芳的,
pure, green,
flowers,
sunshine, gladness,
youthful laughter
sorrow,
pathos,
sin,
innocent suffer
guilty, unpunished
Virtue shall have its reward and triumph and the
wrong shall disappear before the forces of good
The Second Period of Rapid Growth and
Maturity (1594—1600 )
 In the historical plays of the second
period, different phases (stage, period)
of English life are shown before
us:…courtiers (朝臣)…tavern(小酒馆, 小旅
馆)…rogues(流氓,无赖)
 The second period is Shakespeare’s
sweet and joyful time, portraying a
magnificent panorama (view) of the
manifold (various) pursuits of people
in real life.
The Second Period of Rapid
Growth and Maturity (1594—1600 )
There is a great lift in characterization.
1.a gallery of heroines of the comedies
由衷的,
完全的
Portia,
ungrudging and unreserved
Rosalynd,
dignity, honesty, wit,
Viola,
courage, determination,
Beatrice
resourcefulness in emergency
daughters of
Renaissance
2.simple and shrewd clowns
3.common people
wit, humor and
enliven the scenes picturesque language
Vivid Characters in the Historical Plays
strong-willed and able,
a guilty conscience,
fearful for the future
force
Prince Hal,
Henry V
brave, rash,
impetuous (性急的),
undiplomatic (无策略的)
Hotspur
Henry IV patriotic,
national unity
prodigal,
cold-headed,
current politics
Sir John
Falstaff
vividness
knight, villain,
soldier, robber,
cheat and wit
The Second Period of Rapid Growth and
Maturity (1594—1600 )
many and diversified sources
Holinshed and Hall: Chronicles
Spenser: Faerie Queene
Thomas Lodge(洛奇): Rosalynde
Ludovico Ariosto (爱瑞奥斯托): Orlando
famous
The first period made Shakespeare _________;
in the second period, his position was secured
poet ,
as a dramatist
________ and highly successful ______
admired, praised and revered (respected)
by everyone.
The Third Period of Gloom and
Sadness (1601—1607)
•
•
•
•
•
great tragedies and dark comedies:
aggravated (加重) tragic note (tone),
social upheavals
ill at ease (不安定)
the Crown, absolutist 专 制 主 义 者 ,
risings
• In the atmosphere of general unrest,
that
Shakespeare
exposed
mercilessly the complicated social
contradictions.
a mass of evil
The Third Period of Gloom
and Sadness (1601—1607)
murder,

lust(不纯洁的欲望),
treachery(背叛),
ingratitude(忘恩负义)
and crime
Macbeth: traitor-couple murder
Othello:
cheats of Iago 埃古,
King Lear:
death of Desdemona
his 3 daughters
ingratitude of Goneril, Rogan.
the death of Cordelia
Hamlet:
hesitations,
suspences,
revenge
The Third Period of Gloom and
Sadness (1601—1607)

The comedies written in the third period are
known as ______
_____
dark because they give somber
pictures of the world.
vulgarest(最普遍的) reality:
mean(卑鄙自私),
low motives,
mere wanton(奢侈享乐的荡妇)
carnal(好色的) lust
class pride
blood-proud, unfaithful, vicious,
nauseating(另人作呕的) personality, trick
The Third Period of Gloom and
Sadness (1601—1607)
 Three pure and saintlike figures
Isabella, Volumnia and Cordelia
rise:_____________________________.
 But the world around them is a foul (evil)
vice
cauldron(大锅) of ____.
 Shakespeare’s reading is _____and
wide
varied
______.
Fourth Period of Romantic Drama
Four romances or “reconciliation plays” (和谐剧)
and one historical play
All should
a great peacefulness of light and
be well in
a harmony of earth and heaven
the end.
Calm and reconciliation: the change of life
and mood in the later years of Shakespeare
He placed his hopes and aspiration(理想,目标)
with the future of mankind.
Shakespeare’s
Representative Plays
4 comedies:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
4 tragedies:
Hamlet, Othello
Macbeth, King Lear
2 historical plays:
Henry IV
Henry V
Assignment
• Read the pages from p.64 to p.85,
trying to get the main idea of each
play, comedies, tragedies and
historical plays.
• 1) major characters
• 2) main plots